with great power and accuracy. Before making any response to the rebel attack, Major Anderson directed his men to get their breakfasts, after which they were divided into three reliefs, to change every four hours. The first, under Captain Doubleday and Lieutenant Snyder, at half-past seven, opened the fire upon all points simultaneously, and with great rapidity. The enthusiasm of the men was so great that all kept at the guns until relieved. The fire from Fort Moultrie soon disabled one ten-inch Columbiad, one eight-inch Columbiad, one fortytwo-pounder, and two eight-inch sea howitzers, on the parapet, where the firing became so accurate and so intense that Major Anderson withdrew his men to the casemates. The explosion of shells and the quantity of missiles rained upon the fort from every quarter during the day, made it impossible to work the barbette, or upper uncovered guns.

While this work of destruction was going on, the fleet beyond the bar was seen to dip its flags by way of signal. That of the fort was dipped in return. It was subsequently ascertained that a plan had been perfected to throw two hundred and fifty men and supplies into the fort, by boats, at daylight on the 13th, which was frustrated by the Baltic running aground on Rattlesnake Shoal, on the night of the 12th; so that the fleet was of no assistance to the fort.

By noon, the cartridges were exhausted, and a party was sent into the magazine to manufacture more, for which purpose blankets and shirts were used; but as there were no means of weighing the powder, accurate firing became impossible. The fire of the enemy, meanwhile, continually increased in violence and accuracy, and there was scarcely a moment in which the whizzing of balls and crash of shells ceased. An English rifled gun on Cummings's Point was served with great precision, every shot knocking out large quantities of masonry about the embrasures, and bruising the men with the flying concrete rubbish. Sergeant Rearnan, a Mexican veteran, was knocked down, but soon revived, and went to work, remarking, that he "was only knocked down temporarily." As no immediate hostilities were contemplated by the original builders of the fort, they constructed wooden houses inside for the officers' barracks, which now offered a tempting mark to the enemy's hot-shot batteries, and were set on fire three times during the day, calling upon the men for renewed efforts to extinguish the flames under a most galling fire. The meals of the garrison were served at the guns, the cannoneers eating as they worked. The enthusiasm was not confined to the soldiers, but the workmen engaged with zeal at the guns. A party took possession of a gun that had been abandoned because of the close fire made upon it, and worked it with great effect.

In this manner the day drew to a close. The small force varied their work in making cartridges, extinguishing the fire, and serving the guns, until nightfall, when, it being no longer possible to see the effect of the shot, the exhausted men ate their last biscuit, closed the port-holes, nailed the old flag to the mast, and retired to their casemates, to get what rest they could amidst the iron storm that did not cease to thunder about their devoted heads during the night.

With the dawn of Saturday, the 13th, the guns of Sumter again replied to the enemy, but it became very soon apparent that the latter were throwing hot shot with the greatest rapidity. The barracks were fired, and the flames got such headway that they could not be mastered. The whole garrison was then called to remove the powder from the magazine; and ninety odd barrels were rolled out by these intrepid men through the falling shot and bursting shells. The heat being then too great to allow the men any longer to approach the magazine, the doors were closed and locked. The fire soon spread to every portion of the wood-work, while the wind drove the smoke into the fort with stifling effect. The men, no longer able to see each other, could breathe only by means of a wet cloth over the face. The cartridges were once more exhausted, and none could be made on account of the sparks falling in all directions. The upper service magazines now took fire, and the shells and ammunition exploded with terrific force, demolishing the tower, and scattering the upper portions of the building in all directions. The powder removed from the magazine had hitherto been protected by wet blankets, but the spread of the flames made it necessary to throw all but four barrels out of the port-holes into the sea. Hour after hour that resolute little band, amidst the stifling heat, the blinding smoke, and the crumbling walls, stood to their guns without thought of surrender, looking aloft only occasionally to see that the Stars still floated above the din, for nine times had the flagstaff been hit and the lanyards shot away. The staff was finally cut off and planted on the ramparts, with the flag pierced with shot-holes nailed to it, a mark for a circle of batteries.

At this juncture General Wigfall, formerly a United States senator from Texas, but now a rebel officer, reached the fort in a skiff and made his appearance at an embrasure, with a white flag tied to his sword. He said he came from General Beauregard, the flag of Sumter being down; Lieutenant Davis replied, "It is up again." General Wigfall then said, "You are on fire, let us stop this; there is a white flag, will any one wave it from the embrasure? One of the officers replied, "That is for you to do if you wish your batteries to stop.." General Wigfall then held out the flag, when Corporal Bringhurst was directed to hold it for him. The corporal did so, but the shot continued to strike around him. Lieutenant Davis then said, "If you request that a white flag be shown there, while you hold a conference with Major Anderson, it may be done." General Wigfall, then addressing Major Anderson, said, "I am from General Beauregard. You have defended your flag nobly, sir; on what terms will you evacuate the fort ?" Major Anderson in reply said, "General Beauregard is already acquainted with my only terms."

"Do I understand that you will evacuate upon the terms proposed the other day?"

"Yes, sir, and on those conditions only," was the reply.

"Then, sir," said Wigfall, "I understand, Major Anderson, that the fort is to be ours?"

"On those conditions only, I repeat."

"Very well," said Wigfall, and he retired.

A short time afterwards a deputation, consisting of Senator Chesnut, Roger A. Pryor, Captain Lee, and W. Porcher Miles, came from General Beauregard, and had an interview with Major Anderson. They agreed, substantially, to the terms proposed by Wigfall, which were that the garrison should take all their individual and company property, that they should march out with their side and other arms with all the honors, in their own way, and at their own time; that they should salute their flag, and take it with them. This was at a quarter before two P. M., April 13th.

When the baggage of the garrison was all on board of the transport, the soldiers remaining inside under arms, a portion were told off as gunners to serve in saluting the American flag. When the last gun was fired, the flag was lowered, the men cheering. At the fiftieth discharge there was a premature explosion, which killed one man instantly, seriously wounded another, and two more not so badly. The men were then formed and marched out, at nine A. M., April 14th, the band playing "Yankee Doodle" and "Hail to the Chief."

Thus fell Sumter, at the fratricidal hands of our "Southern brethren," not, however, while there was a cartridge to fire or powder enough left to make one. Never did famished men work with greater determination, in the full knowledge of the fact that if they continued to hold the place there was not a biscuit to eat.

It was a remarkable fact that no life was lost on either side during this terrible cannonade. This, on the part of the fort, must be attributed to the small number of men, all of whom could find shelter in the casemates. A larger number would only have suffered great havoc. Major Anderson and his men, on their arrival North, were received with every honor due to their great merits.

The fleet which left New York, January 7th, under sealed orders, was supposed to be destined for Fort Sumter, and that belief, no doubt, stimulated the attack by the Charleston forces. It seems, however, that the larger portion was for Fort Pickens, which was occupied by a small garrison, and threatened by the enemy. On the 16th and 17th the steamers Atlantic and Powhattan landed a considerable number of troops and a horse battery on Santa Rosa Island, and, at midnight on the 19th, the Illinois arrived with three hundred and fifty additional troops, under command of brevet Colonel Brooks, who were landed next morning. The force on the island then numbered over one thousand men, commanded by Colonel Harvey Brown, of the Second Artillery.

This successful operation insured the safety of Fort Pickens against any attack of the rebels, who, under the command of General Bragg,*

Braxton Bragg, a native of North Carolina, entered West Point in 1832. He graduated in 1837, second-lieutenant in the third infantry; assistant commissary of subsistence in November, 1837; adjutant in December, 1537; first-lieutenant July, 1833; brevet captain, for gallant conduct at Fort Brown, May, 1846; captain, June, 1846; brevet major, for gallant conduct at Monterey, September, 1546; and brevet lieutenant-colonel at Buena Vista. He resigned his place in the army in Jannary, 1856, and in 1561 was appointed brigadiergeneral of the Confederate army, and took comimand at Pensacola. Subsequently he fought at

Shiloh; was promoted to be a general, and in the autumn of 1862 invaded Kentucky; was beaten at Murfreesboro', and in the summer of 1563 driven beyond Chattanooga, but defeated Rosecrans in turn at Chickamauga. In November, 1563, he lost the important battle of Missionary Ridge, and was soon after removed from active command, but being a favorite with Davis, he was intrusted with the general supervision of the rebel armies. Subsequently he was ordered to Wilmington, and held command under Johnston at the surrender of the latter in 1965.